The first UK homeopaths
were all close colleagues of Dr. Samuel Hahnemann [1755-1843] in Paris
and they came to England specifically to set up homeopathic practice in
the 1830s. They were Dr. F H F Quin [1799-1878], Dr. Paul Francois Curie
[1799-1853], grandfather of the scientist Pierre Curie [1859-1906], Mr
William Leaf [c.1804-1874], a rich London Silk Merchant, and Rev Thomas
Roupell Everest [1801-1855]. Quin's medical practice in London was
established in September 1832 at 19 King Street, while in 1844 he
established the British Homeopathic Society [BHS] with 10
colleagues, and the London Homeopathic Hospital in 1849.

Melanie was
successfully tried in 1847 in Paris for practising medicine without a
licence thus underscoring the problem many lay practitioners have faced
since that time. It is still illegal in many countries throughout the
world for non-medically qualified persons to practice homeopathy or to
dispense potentised remedies.

DR. QUIN & COLLEAGUES

‘Homeopathy was first practised in England by Dr.
Frederick Foster Hervey Quin, in 1828. Dr. Quin was eminently
qualified to be the pioneer of the new system. Endowed with great
intellectual powers, master of three or four modern languages, and one
of the best raconteurs of the day, he was admirably fitted to shine in
the best society, to which, indeed, from his position as physician to
Prince Leopold, afterwards King of the Belgians, he obtained ready
admission. Soon after settling down to practice in London he was
invited to dine at the house of a nobleman, and having been detained
by professional engagements he came in late. Quietly slipping into his
appointed place at the table, he was highly amused to find his two
neighbours, to whom he was personally unknown, engaged in animated
conversation about himself. "Have you heard" said one,
"of this new-fangled system that has been introduced by a Dr.
Quin ? It is said to consist in giving medicines which produce, on the
healthy, diseases similar to the diseases to be cured, but in such
very small doses as to be absolutely ridiculous."

"Why, the man must be a fool !" exclaimed
the guest on the other side of Dr. Quin. " More knave than fool,
I should imagine," replied the other." Pardon me, gentlemen,
for interrupting you," said Dr. Quin, "but I think it right
to inform you that I am Dr. Quin."

His neighbours stammered out apologies for their
inadvertent rudeness, but Dr. Quin set them at their ease by saying,
"No offence, gentlemen; and to show, you that I bear no ill will,
I shall be happy to take a glass of wine with both of you - with you,
sir, in my character of fool, and with you, sir, in my character of
knave."‘ [Quoted in History of the London Homeopathic Hospital,
1914]

Dr Frederick
Hervey Foster QUIN (1799-1878)

Homeopathy in the UK
was first established by a small group of men. In 1832 Dr. Quin
established a full-time medical practice in London. Doctors became
attracted to homeopathy as an alternative to strong Drugging, and within
20 years homeopathy was well established, with homeopathic doctors in
most areas of the country. They amounted to something like 300+ at their
peak in 1875 [compiled from data in Homeopathic Medical Directories
1867, 1874, 1895, 1909, 1911-12, 1931; see also Nicholls 1988, and The
Homeopathic World, May-July 1932].

Quin, Leaf, Curie and
Everest seem to have been part of an ‘inner sanctum’ of Hahnemann's
protégés in Paris. They established practices in the UK and later free
dispensaries for the poor and also several hospitals. Leaf and Everest
might perhaps be better described as 'lay homeopathic zealots', and Dr.
Curie tended in the same direction. This was distasteful to Quin who
distanced himself from their excesses, concentrating instead on
converting the medically qualified. In 1848, Rosenstein lists 73
homeopathic practitioners in England and Scotland, of which 51 are
doctors and 22 laypersons.

Dr
Quin

Dr. Quin

qualified
in medicine at Edinburgh in 1820, after which he travelled extensively
in continental Europe. He first learnt homeopathy from the Austrian Dr.
Neckar in Naples. Neckar was a direct pupil of Hahnemann. Quin then went
to Leipzig to study with Hahnemann himself. In 1831 he was in Moravia
studying the Cholera [which he himself contracted and successfully cured
with Camphor]; along with Dr. Gerstel and two surgeons he had charge of
all Cholera in the town of Tischnowitz and neighbouring villages. Quin
wrote to Hahnemann telling him of his successful use of Camphor,
[Bradford, 1895, p.266; see also Nan Raj, 1978].

He was the first
practitioner of homeopathy in the UK in 1828 but no-one took any notice
at first and it went unreported. Quin's full-time medical practice in
London was set up in Sept. 1832 at 19 King St, St James's [Blackie,
1975, p.32], then later at 13 Stratford Place [Hobhouse, 1933, p.248].

In 1844 he established
the British Homeopathic Society with 10 colleagues [Blackie,
1975, p.34] and the Hospital in Golden Square [Soho] in 1843.

`Quin was...appointed physician to Emperor Napoleon
I at St Helena but he died on the eve of Quin's departure, then
physician to Duchess of Devonshire, after her decease in 1824 became
physician to Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, later King of Belgium;
Quin went to Kothen in 1826 to study with Hahnemann; on his return in
1827 to England he introduced homeopathy; known especially in the
higher classes of society for promoting homeopathy there, while Dr.
Curie exerted his influence to the general public...he died 24 Nov.
1878' [Haehl, 1922, vol. 2, p.507]

'Dr. Quin was able to obtain an amendment to the
Medical Registration Bill; a clause was added enabling the Privy
Council to withdraw the right to award degrees from any university
that tried to impose the type of medicine practised by its graduates.'
[Inglis, 1964, p.80]

Quin had all the best
social connections, and was ideally placed to establish homeopathy in
Britain. For a time he had been a physician to the Duchess of
Devonshire, Prince Leopold [1790-1865], later King of the Belgians and
Queen Victoria's uncle, and he was a close friend of d'Orsay, the
Blessingtons, [e.g. Marguerite, Countess of Blessington 1789-1849, an
Irish beauty] Dickens [1812-70], Thackeray [1811-63] and Landseer
[1802-73]. He had also treated the Marquess of Anglesey, companion at
Waterloo of the Duke of Wellington [1769-1852] and was medical adviser
to the Duchess of Cambridge [Inglis, 1964, p.79; Hobhouse, 1933, p.248;
also Cooter, 1988, pp. 31-2, 47, 59].

Countess
Blessington

Keenly attuned to the
reforms of the day, Quin was determined to restrict homeopathy to
medically qualified doctors and to regulate their professional conduct
strictly [Inglis, 1964, p.80-1] particularly as the number of
homeopathic doctors was rising steadily from 10 at the start to 300 or
so by the time Quin died in 1878 [Inglis, 1964, p.81; Blackie, p.34]

Apart
from Dr. Quin himself, three other converts were very important in
establishing homeopathy in the UK. These were the silk merchant William
Leaf, the Parisian homeopath Dr. Paul Curie and Rev Thomas Everest. All
were intimate members of Hahnemann's circle in 1840s Paris at the close
of his life.

As the originator of
homeopathy in Britain, Quin taught most of his colleagues all the
rudiments of homeopathic materia medica and philosophy.

He lectured on
homeopathy 1852-1864 at the London School of Homeopathy. In 1885
the School merged with the hospital. [Obituary, BHJ 10, p.1,
Appreciation & Biographical Sketch, BHJ, 79, p.52]. There is,
however, conflicting information about this institution and who was in
charge of it. We might therefore, conveniently assume it was Quin,
Dudgeon, Bayes and Hughes at various times throughout the 19th century,
and we refer to all of them in connection with it [see below].

'On 18 Oct. 1859 Quin was appointed to the chair of
Therapeutics and Materia Medica in the Medical School of the hospital;
from 1852-64 Quin assisted Dr.’s Leadham & Russell offer lecture
courses there, which later in 1877 became the London School of
Homeopathy, [Bonnard, 1994, Dr. Quin, p.35

]

Quin was allegedly the
illegitimate son of the Duchess of Devonshire:

"He is a mystery man. His names Hervey and
Foster suggest a relationship to the Duchess of Devonshire. Indeed, he
is often depicted as her illegitimate son. The Duchess was born Lady
Elizabeth Hervey and her first marriage was to John Foster. However,
there is absolutely no evidence that the Duchess was Quin's mother
although obviously with those names there must have been some sort of
relationship, possibly that of godson." [Leary, B, 1991, p.19 et
seq.]

VLB Hervey (Lady
Eliz's Father) & Dunraven 4 the Earl that is the son or grandson of
Quin's alleged father.

Quin had the money, the
qualifications and the numerous contacts within the aristocracy to
establish homeopathy in Britain with relative ease [see also Bodman,
1961, and Ruthven Mitchell, pp.90-91, 99-100; also Nicholls, pp.234 and
246-7]. Leaf had been a patient of Hahnemann and a letter from the good
doctor proves this. The benefit of Quin being aristocratic very quickly
became apparent.

"By his tireless efforts he induced his rich
friends to subscribe sums of up to £1000 each, an enormous amount in
those days. By 1859 there were sufficient funds to purchase three
houses in Great Ormond St, and here the new hospital opened on the
present site." [Leary, op cit.]

Quin had also studied
homeopathy under Hahnemann in Leipzig, studied and treated cholera in
Hungary and been impressed by homeopathy in action against cholera both
in Hungary and in Naples [Cook, 1981; Blackie, 1976; Nan Raj, 1978]. He
also frequently visited Hahnemann in Paris.

Dr Quin was the founder
of English homeopathy. After graduating MD in 1820 in Edinburgh, Quin
then became the Duchess of Devonshire’s family physician and travelled
with her entourage. He met Dr Hahnemann and travelled extensively in
Europe, residing for a time in Rome and Naples [Bonnard,op.
cit., 1994, p.32; this article is very closely based upon the Quin
biography in the Dictionary of National Biography; see also Blackie,
1976, p.25; Dr Blackie was 1969-81 the Queen's Physician; see also
Bodman, 1961, pp.73-82].

He
is said to have successfully used Camphor against Cholera in Moravia
(Czechoslovakia) and to have cured himself of the condition by following
Hahnemann's advice [see Cook, 1981: 146; Hobhouse, 1933: 248].
During the 1830's and 40's he spent a lot of time in Paris among the
inner circle of Hahnemann's protégés [Handley, 1990: 47, 99 and
109; see also Blackie, op cit., 29].

Dr Quin first learned
homeopathy from the Austrian, Dr George Necker (c1770-c1840) in 1825 in
Naples. He put Quin in touch with most of the literature on homoeopathy;
'Necker was a disciple of Hahnemann's.' [Blackie, op cit., pp.27-8;
Hobhouse, op cit., 248].

Quin then went to
Leipzig to study with Hahnemann himself. Along with Dr Gerstel and two
surgeons he had charge of all Cholera in the town of Tischnowitz and
neighbouring villages 'where the disease was raging.' [Bonnard, op cit.,
33].

Quin wrote to Hahnemann
telling him of his successful use of Camphor [Bradford, op cit., 266].